Traveling to Cape Town, Thinking about diving

[captnk]

I will be in Cape Town SA the end of March and beginning of April. Thinkn bout diving but not sure about the shark thing. Is it worth diving if you are not interested in the cage dive? Where is the best area to go? Heard the water is cold...is it still worth the dive?

If I were to bring some of my own gear, besides my reg and computer what is suggested?

Take any advice regarding diving in the Cape!

Thanks

 

[Skuba-doo]

hey,
Been looking into this also......
The cage diving can be done in gansbaai - conbsidered the better place - however False Bay (from Simonstown) is also considered excellent as there is the potential to see sharks breaching - literally jumping out of the water when hunting!
You generally pay around 1700 rands, and go out on teh boat, at first viewing sharks from the boat, then diving. Most outfits willinclude all necessary equipment in the price.
Im also looking at diving KZN and will post in a different thread on this

 

[AndyT]

Hi

There is plenty of diving to be done, not only shark cage stuff. Have a look at the pics on my flickr site - link in my signature.

Contact Mike at Pisces Divers to arrange your dives - I dive with him every weekend. He can also arrange cage diving or viewing from a boat with Chris Fallows of "Air Jaws" fame either to Seal Island for breaching sharks or out into the deep for a pelagic trip mentioned by Skuba-doo.

mike@piscesdivers.co.za
www.piscesdivers.co.za

Hope this helps !

 

[travel girl]

What about trying crocodile cage diving

 

[Sodain]

I dived with 7-Gill cow sharks at Pyramid rock on Sunday. I have done quite a few dives with them. It is still absolutely amazing. If you do a shore entry it can cost you as little as R200 (bout $25)

There is some amazing diving spots in cape town. The conditions not always that good thou. Water temperature can be as cold as 7degrees Celsius but can sometime go over 20.

That time of the year you might still be able to dive the other side of False bay. Close to Rooi Els. Coral Gardens, Crosses and Steenbras are wonderful dives.

Simonstown you can have great dives at a-frame, pyramid, castle, outer castle.

Also brilliant wreck dives. Smits wrecks 5 boats close to each other.'

You can go on and on. Really brilliant spots. Just depending on the conditions.

I would recommend diving in Cape Town, but I might be considered bias as I live in Cape Town.

Regards

 

[captnk]

Sodain:

Do you dive with a dry suit?

Would you recommend getting certified in Cape for dry suit and doing my dives with your company?

I was thinking about getting my classroom stuff out of the way here and then arranging for my dives there, but not sure how hard dry suit diving is?

 

[AndyT]

Not Sodain but I also live and dive in Cape Town, and yes I use a drysuit all of the time.

I did not find changing to drysuit particularly difficult, but it does take around 10 dives to get completely comfortable.

If you contact Mike at the address I provided earlier he can also help out with the course.

 

[Sodain]

Hi,

I don't dive with a drysuit. All my dives are done with a 5mm full wetsuit with a 7mm tunic. I use 3mm gloves, because it lends more mobility to my hands. So my hands tend to get cold every now and then. Apart from that the cold don't really bother me.

Drysuit are definitely an option. Yet again it depends from diver to diver. Most people in Cape Town dive with wetsuits. That might just be because it is a cost issue.


As I'm more of a sports diver I'm not affiliated with one particular dive school. Drysuit courses; a place like the above mentioned Pisces would be quite good. Another company would be Dive Action. I tend to do most of my training through a fairly independent instructor. He is by far the cheapest. That is actually just a bonus. I prefer using him because of the variety of dives and the fact that 90% of the dives are shore entry.

Hope that helps.

 

[evilclown]

very cool!

 

[simonru]

I went to Cape Town last year and was really dissapointed with the Shark "ducking your head under the water" experience. Did get to see a couple of Great Whites.

A better experience was the two dives at the Two Oceans Aquarium.